Recent trends and open issues in reverse engineering

This paper discusses recent trends in the field of reverse engineering, particularly those highlighted at the Second Working Conference on Reverse Engineering, held in July 1995. The trends observed include increased orientation toward tasks, grounding in complex real-world applications, guidance from empirical study, analysis of non-code sources, and increased formalization. The paper also summarizes open research issues and provides pointers to future events and sources of information in this area.     

The optical-mechanical analogy in general relativity: Exact Newtonian forms for the equations of motion of particles and photons

In many metrics of physical interest, the gravitational field can be represented as an optical medium with an effective index of refraction. We show that, in such a metric, the orbits of both massive and massless particles are governed by a variational principle which involves the index of refraction and which assumes the form of Fermat's principle or of Maupertuis's principle. From this variational principle we derive exact equations of motion of Newtonian form which govern both massless and massive particles. These equations of motion are applied to some problems of physical interest.     

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopic studies of diffusion within the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) measurements have been performed in order to determine the translational diffusion coefficients of three differently charged fluorescent probes (cationic: rhodamine 6G, neutral: 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-p-dimethylaminostyryl-4-H-pyran, DCM, and anionic: fluorescein) dissolved within the common room temperature ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [bmim][PF6]. These experiments demonstrate that FCS is a rapid, sensitive, precise (typical RSD from 4-8%), and low-consumption screening tool for the determination of analyte mobility within microliter ionic liquid samples.     

The convergence rate for the strong law of large numbers: General lattice distributions

LetX ₁,X ₂, ... be a sequence of independent random variables with common lattice distribution functionF having zero mean, and let (S _n ) be the random walk of partial sums. The strong law of large numbers (SLLN) implies that for any and >0

Controllability of linear systems,differential geometry curves in grassmannians and generalized grassmannians,and riccati equations

We study the linear system =Ax+Bu from a differential geometric point of view. It is well-known that controllability of the system is related to the one-parameter family of operators e^t B. We use this to give a proof of the classical controllability conditions in terms of the differential geometry of certain curves in ⁿ. We then view (t)=Im(e^t B) as a curve in appropriate Grassmannian and see that, in local coordinates, is an integral curve of the flow induced by a matrix Riccati equation. We obtain qualitative geometric conditions on that are equivalent to the controllability of the system. To get quantitiative results, we lift to a curve l' in a splitting space, a generalized Grassmannian, which has the advantage of being a reductive homogeneous space of the general linear group, GL(ⁿ). Explicit and simple expressions concerning the geometry of are computed in terms of the Lie algebra of GL(ⁿ), and these are related to the controllability of the system.James Wolper was a visiting professor in the Department of Mathematics at Texas Tech University while much of this research was conducted. He would like to express appreciation for the hospitality he received during his visit.     

Crystal and molecular structure of 1R,3S,5S,7R,10R-3,6,6,10,14-Pentamethyltricyclo[10.3.0.05,7]pentadeca-11,14-diene-1, 10-dihydroxy-2,13-dione (Japodagrol), C20H28O4

A new cytotoxic macrocyclic diterpenoid named Japodagrol, C₂₀H₂₈O₄, has been isolated from the ornamental plantJatropha podagrica, family Euphorbiaceae, grown in Nigeria. The structure of the title compound, C₂₀H₂₈O₄, was solved by X-ray analysis.M _r =332.44, monoclinic space groupC2,a=23.285(4),b=6.5105(12),c=12.505(3) Å,=98.504(17),V=1874.8 ų,Z=4,D _c =1.178 Mg/m³. CuK radiation (graphite crystal monochromator, =1.54184 A), (CuK)=6.13 cm^–1,F(000)=720,T=290 K. Final conventionalR factor=0.035,R _w =0.038 for 3349 observed reflections. The structure was solved with the programDirdif. The 5-membered ring is closed to a half-chair form. The compound contains inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds.     

Minimum audible movement angle as a function of signal frequency and the velocity of the source

Thresholds for the detection of the direction of travel of a moving sound source were determined in a single-interval, forced-choice paradigm. Both the rate at which the sound source is displaced (8 degrees-128 degrees/s) and the frequency of the signal to be localized (500-3700 Hz) affect dynamic spatial resolution. There is an inverse relationship between spatial resolution and the rate of travel, a finding that replicates an earlier observation on performance with sources displaced at high velocities [Perrott and Musicant, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 62, 1463-1466 (1977)]. However, the magnitude of this effect depends on the actual velocities employed. Relatively small changes in spatial resolution are apparent for velocities below approximately 32 degrees/s. The significant frequency effect can be summarized as follows: Dynamic spatial resolution is better for signals below 1000 Hz than for signals above this value (within the range tested). Particularly poor resolution is evident for signals between 1300-2000 Hz. The present results indicate that signal frequency affects dynamic spatial resolution in a fashion similar to that which has been observed in the more common "static" localization test situation. There is no indication of an interaction between these two variables. These results provide additional support for the hypothesis that both static and dynamic spatial discrimination functions are dependent upon the same underlying mechanisms. The effects of velocity upon the spatial resolution problem, a unique aspect of the dynamic paradigm, can probably be explained without the necessity of additional hypothetical mechanisms in the auditory system (e.g., a specialized motion detector).